The Internet & Customer Service: A Winning Combination

By Connie and Ken Mazur

Conventional usage of the Internet by businesses centers on making sales. However, a thriving business also has to address the post-sales process, i.e., customer service. Why use the Internet for customer service? As with making sales online, providing customer service online also saves time and money on personnel dedicated to answering repetitive, simple inquiries.

If your company already has an Internet site, why not maximize the site's utility? As a case study, consider what happens during the customer service process. A customer will call your customer service department, needing to be routed to the appropriate section that handles a particular inquiry. Experienced company personnel spend a certain amount of time with the customer answering that inquiry. The advantages of this process are the one-on-one experience of talking with a knowledgeable company representative and the goal of immediately helping a customer with a problem. The disadvantages of this process are that it is available only when your customer service department is staffed, and that department is sure to experience its share of repetitive, straightforward questions or problems.

This is where your company's Internet site steps into the customer service process. By providing basic support information to visitors on a 24x7 basis, the burden on your customer service staff can be eased. The information you provide online should be based upon frequently asked questions that are compiled from your customer service department, known service bulletins and other information that is of a routine nature.

Think about the notion of 24x7 customer service. How many times have you purchased a product for home use only to find that you need assistance, usually after 5 p.m. on a weekday or during the weekend when you are at home? How would you like to have your questions answered, or at least receive some clue as to when you will receive an answer, by just a few clicks of a mouse?

Doing It Right, On Time And Effectively

With most things in life, it is just as important how you do something as it is that you can do it. The same premise applies to online customer service. As an example, Internet industry sources indicate that nearly half of online companies leave their e-mail unanswered for more than seven days. In customer service terms this means the customer is virtually on infinite hold. The lesson here is for your company to learn from online virtual companies that do all their correspondence by e-mail. If these virtual companies do not respond quickly to their email, they lose business. Have that same dedication when dealing with your company's e-mail.

Let us say that your company has a great product that is selling well. People start talking about it on the Internet. Why should you wait for some third party organization or individual to host online discussion groups about your product? Be proactive. Start and host newsgroups (public or private), listserves (interactive e-mail lists) or messageboards (online, interactive discussion forums) on your Internet site as part of your customer service process. This way you have another value-added, interactive customer service section on your site, and you know what your customers are saying about your product or service.

Loyalty Thrives If You Don't Make It Hard.

Some say that customer loyalty is a thing of the past. Most of us would tend to agree based upon our experience with the buying process. Think about how many times you have been turned off from a product line because of something a company did. That “something” might have been the product itself or just poor customer service. If your company offers decent customer service, and you sell a quality product, customer loyalty thrives. If loyalty is there, referrals follow.

Why Is It Cost Effective?

As a company with an online presence, provide as much information geared to your prospects and your customers as possible on the Internet. Then your prospects will know why they should buy from you, your existing customers can get the information and experience that will keep them loyal, and your valued employees can be more available when customers do call in need of one-on-one assistance. Do it right, on time and effectively. Give your customers a good excuse to stay loyal.

Connie & Ken Mazur are the owners of CyberVillage Networkers, a provider of web site development, hosting, maintenance and marketing. They can be reached at 410-579-1993 or http://cybernetworkers.com.